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State hurries to update maps; many damaged homes not in floodplain

Martha Gutierrez, a resident of the Evergreen Mobile Home Park in Milliken, said it seems the city is using the September flood as an excuse to get rid of them by forcing the mobile-home park out of the historic, agricultural town. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

More than 17 percent of homes destroyed or damaged in four of the counties hardest-hit by September's flood — Weld, Larimer, Boulder and Logan — were not in the floodplain, according to a Denver Post analysis.

The epic floodwaters not only tossed homes into rivers and doused entire neighborhoods in mud, but exposed flood-management plans that were out of date. Some had not been changed in more than 30 years.

Now, as many families struggle to repair their homes, they are tangled up in what is Colorado's biggest scramble in decades to update flood-hazard maps. Homes that existed for generations — long before floodplain maps were drafted — were swept away from plots of land that may soon be deemed too dangerous for construction.

Larimer County is preparing to tell more than 70 homeowners who built before floodplain maps existed that they cannot rebuild in the floodway, the most hazardous section of the floodplain.

And at Evergreen Mobile Home Park in Milliken, in Weld County, almost no one had flood insurance, a misfortune that had only begun to sink in as water gushed over the highway into the homes and yards of 33 families and 100 children that September night. The trailer park is not in the floodplain, although the edge of the flood-hazard zone isn't far: about 500 feet from the park and concealed by an 8-foot wooden fence off Milliken's main street.

After the maps are updated, the park could end up being part of the flood zone, and residents would probably have to buy flood insurance and perhaps be forced to move. The town hasn't updated its floodplain map since 1979.

Town and county planners across Colorado are questioning how to handle letting people move back into homes that flood managers might later determine are unsafe.

"Communities are absolutely clamoring to get information as fast as possible so life can go on and planning decisions can be made," said Kevin Houck, chief of watershed and flood protection for the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the state agency that maps the floodplain. "This has been by far the biggest push to update them that I've seen in at least my 10 years here."

State or federal law does not prohibit people from building in a floodplain or even a floodway; communities are allowed to make their own rules regarding whether residents can live in hazard zones. Typically, people are not allowed to build in a floodway, where the deepest floodwater is predicted, but can live on the fringes of the floodplain.

State flood-management officials plan to have — within about a month — revised, preliminary floodplain maps for counties that were flooded, Houck said. The first task is creating topography maps that include changes in the direction of rivers since fall.

Nothing but car keys

Most people were in their pajamas when the water poured into Evergreen Mobile Home Park, sloshing mud into living rooms, sweeping kids' bicycles to neighbors' yards and sending residents fleeing with nothing but their car keys.

Of the 33 homes in the park, just two were insured for rising waters.

Volunteers help Jose Moreno clear out his destroyed home at the Evergreen Mobile Home Park. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Milliken is warning residents of the park that if they move back in, it's at their own risk. In order to get building permits to fix their homes or install new ones, residents must sign a city affidavit that says they understand that after the town completes engineering studies, the property might end up in a flood-hazard zone.

"In such instance, I may be required to relocate my mobile home in the future at my own cost," it says. "I understand that this relocation might be outside Milliken."

Park residents say they had no choice — other than homelessness — but to sign the document.

"We were trapped — you either sign it or you don't get your house back," said park resident Martha Gutierrez.

Gutierrez and others said it seems the city is using the flood as an excuse to get rid of them by forcing the mobile-home park out of the historic, agricultural town.

Milliken officials, however, said they did not pressure anyone to sign the affidavit. They required it because it seemed only fair to warn residents before they move back in that the area could become a flood-danger zone, said town clerk Cheryl Powell.

"We definitely don't want to lose the residents from there," she said. "They went through a very difficult time."

Residents of the mobile-home park were particularly offended that the affidavit says they might have to leave Milliken, where many of them have lived most of their lives.

Several of the park residents work at nearby dairies or factories, including Eastman Kodak in Windsor, or drive trucks for oil and gas companies. On a recent December day, many stood in line along Broad Street in Milliken to pick up food-bank boxes loaded with peanut butter and soup.

"This is our home," said Gutierrez, recalling how residents watch neighbors' kids or give each other rides to work. "We all help each other. That's what we did best."

Just 13 of the 33 families have signed the city's affidavit and moved back to the park. Several are still doubled up in houses with friends or family; two live in fifth-wheel campers. Celerina Luciano recently returned after spending three months in a house with 14 people.

At the park, crews are ripping apart homes destroyed by the flood, reducing them to piles of wood and metal. Many families received federal assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but they said the money — typically about $4,000 — covered only building supplies or helped with a down payment on a new mobile home. Volunteers have repaired many of the homes for free.

State flood-protection chief Houck said he has seen the scenario play out over and over. When flood maps are updated and an area becomes part of the floodplain, residents point fingers at community planners and claim they should have been told beforehand.

"You can write a script to this whole thing," he said.

Milliken is trying to help mobile-home park residents by giving them advance warning, said Anne Johnson, the town's economic development director. The town is applying for funds to begin updating its floodplain maps right away; waiting on FEMA could take three to five years.

"We just wanted to be transparent and let them know that we care and we want them to know," Johnson said. "We don't know if it's going to be in the floodplain at all."

A separate coverage

State law does not mandate that Coloradans who live in a floodplain buy flood insurance, which is separate from homeowner's coverage.

But lenders often require it when homebuyers finance a house. That means the people most likely to have flood insurance are those who have not paid off their mortgages.

The average annual cost for properties in high-risk areas is $600 per year, said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. If it's not required, "most people that live in a lower-risk area weigh the cost versus the risk and don't buy it," she said.

Typical homeowner's insurance will cover burst pipes that flood a basement, rain or hail pounding through the roof or a disconnect of the washing-machine hose. But flooding because of rising waters is covered by separate insurance purchased through a federal pool administered by FEMA.

In Larimer County, about 100 of the most damaged homes were in the floodplain. Among them are 77 in the most dangerous part of the floodplain — the floodway.

"The county will tell them they cannot rebuild in the floodway," said county information manager Deni LaRue. "There is an appeals process where they can challenge the findings, so it's a very dynamic situation."

Among the flood-damaged properties already assessed by inspectors in Larimer County, 143 are in the floodplain and 33 are not.

"We are hoping FEMA will step in and remap the whole floodplain," said Eric Tracy of the Larimer County engineering department. While the county waits three to five years for the federal agency's maps, officials are expecting a rough-cut version from the state that will help community planners in the meantime.

In Milliken, mobile-home park owners Tim and Jerrie Solomon are working to save the park. Tim has taken just two days off out of 90 from moving mud and hauling building supplies, and one of them because he got a concussion while helping with repairs.

The park has been there for 47 years, and Laura Medina has lived there for 23. The night the water came, her neighbors pounded on her door and helped get her kids out.

"It's all my life living here," she said. "I want to be here another 20 years."

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